Can a Healthy Lifestyle Reduce Feelings of Anxiety during the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Abstract

The implemented outdoor activity restrictions throughout the COVID-19 pandemic have caused a change in people’s lifestyles. The significant changes that can be seen are the reduced number of people’s participation in physical activities and the change in their dietary patterns [1]. This condition also affects the anxiety of everyone. A lifestyle related survey was conducted on 274 students at the University of Education Indonesia using the Fantastic Instrument developed by Dr. Douglas Wilson from the Department of Family Medicine, McMaster University Canada. The lifestyle itself here includes conditions from sports activities, rest periods, and feelings of anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results of the analysis show that there is a significant influence of life on feelings of anxiety with a sig (2-tailed) value of 0.046 < 0.005, while the coefficient of determination (R Square) of 0.11 means that lifestyle variables have an effect of 11% on anxiety, the rest is influenced by other factors. The implementation of activities during the Covid-19 period had a real impact on the lifestyle of students at the Indonesian Education University, significantly reducing feelings of anxiety for those who applied a good lifestyle and vice versa, feelings would increase when the lifestyle was not good.